The Westin Denver International Airport

DIA Hotel Finished Exterior 3

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08 Central Utility Plant Piping

The 433,000 square foot, 14-story hotel features 519 guest rooms, a convention center, transit center and plaza. RK Mechanical was hired by the GC tri-venture to design, fabricate and install the mechanical systems (HVAC, plumbing and piping) on the project. The project includes approximately 31 miles of piping and plumbing, 9 miles of PEX piping, almost 430,000 pounds of sheet metal ductwork and over 70,000 joints or welds.

RK utilized advanced Building Information Modeling (BIM) by integrating Autodesk® Fabrication® software and our own 3D modeling platform to digitally layout our building systems and coordinate the design with architectural and structural models. Using Fabrication CADmep to see other building systems improved our ability to make informed decisions about our layout and avoid interferences—helping minimize field rework and delays. One example of RK’s integrated CAD application usage was demonstrated when we needed to run 10- and 12-inch carbon-steel piping from the airport’s central utility plant to the hotel and transit center, approximately one mile away. Our team’s expert ability to leverage BIM, CAD and field-related applications enabled us to prefabricate almost all of the piping—eliminating the cost of on-site logistics and labor for field welding—a significant savings of both time and money.